Step Brothers

Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Adam McKay had such a fantastic time making the hit 2006 NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights together, the trio swore that they would collaborate on another film at some point. ”And we followed through!” says Ferrell with a laugh. ”Every time a movie wraps, there’s e-mails exchanged, there’s tears — then you never talk to anyone again. But this time we spitballed a bunch of ideas. It was Adam who said, ‘What if you guys are two men that still live with your single parents and they get married?”’ So Step Brothers finds Ferrell and Reilly dwelling in uncomfortably close proximity to each other and their respective parents, played by Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins. The Judd Apatow-produced gagfest was written by McKay and Ferrell, but it was an actual chapter from Reilly’s life that provided the inspiration for one of the film’s raunchiest plot points. ”John had an older brother who was obsessed with him not touching his drum set,” says Ferrell. ”And there’s a specific moment in regards to that which is very R-rated. I don’t want to give it away, but it involves me placing a part of my anatomy on his drum kit.” McKay confirms that the bawdy comedy is ”a pretty hard R. Are we as dirty as The 40 Year-Old Virgin? I think we’re in that range. Although Apatow probably had more female nudity than we have.” And what does that say about McKay, Ferrell, and Reilly? ”That we’re idiots.” (July 25)